Evolution of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has made it possible to track items of inventory wirelessly by affixing an RFID tag to each inventory item and wirelessly sensing the RFID tag using a sensory antenna array. If the antenna array can sense the RFID tag, a decision is made that the corresponding item is present in the inventory. Conversely, if the antenna array does not sense the RFID tag, a decision is made that the corresponding item is not present in the inventory.
One operational issue in the wireless tracking of inventory items is that an antenna array may not sense an RFID tag that is in a “blind spot” for the antenna array. For example, an RFID tag may be occluded from the antenna array by another inventory item or an RFID tag may be oriented in a direction in which the antenna array has a low directional sensitivity, resulting in a missed read of the RFID tag by the antenna array.
In certain applications, errors in inventory tracking, such as caused by a failure to read an RFID tag by a sensory antenna array may have significant undesirable operational consequences. For example, in a healthcare facility, incorrect charges may result of an item is erroneously tracked as being removed from a medical cabinet.